Port Authority aviation chief positive on airline merger

TOWN OF WALLKILL — Port Authority's aviation director, Susan Baer, predicted Thursday the merger of American Airlines and US Airways will be "a good thing" for Stewart International Airport.

BY Michael Randall

TOWN OF WALLKILL — Port Authority's aviation director, Susan Baer, predicted Thursday the merger of American Airlines and US Airways will be "a good thing" for Stewart International Airport.

Baer was the guest speaker at the monthly breakfast meeting of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, held at the West Hills Country Club.

Baer said US Airways, which currently flies four times a day to Philadelphia from Stewart, "has done well here."

And because the new airline will fly under the American banner, it will mean the logo of the first airline to offer regularly scheduled passenger service at Stewart will be seen there again for the first time in years.

American began service to Chicago and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., in 1990. It was last represented at Stewart by its affiliate, American Eagle, which dropped Stewart service in 2007.

"I see this as a very positive thing for a new, stronger airline," Baer said. "And it's a good thing for Stewart."

Baer said Stewart, like many other airports, had a rough year in 2012, as airlines cut back on the number of seats available on flights because of continuing high costs of doing business, especially for fuel. Stewart's passenger volume was down about 12 percent last year.

"It's been a fight every day to keep what we have," Baer said of Stewart's passenger service.

But Baer noted the agency remains confident in Stewart's future and is about to spend about $143 million to rehabilitate both of the airport's runways. The agency also is planning a terminal expansion that will allow domestic and international arrivals to be processed simultaneously. Stewart does not have regular overseas service, but Port Authority has pitched the airport to carriers who fly internationally.

Baer noted one bright spot: JetBlue is bringing back its seasonal second daily flight to Orlando, Fla., for another run during the next couple of months.

She said it might become a permanent flight if enough people use it.

Baer said Stewart's cargo volume was up 15 percent in 2012. Stewart "bucked the trend" as the agency's only airport to record an increase in cargo volume, with 18,781 tons of cargo, she said.

Baer also praised the work of Port Authority's employees at the airport, as well as its partners at Stewart, for their hard work during and after Superstorm Sandy. Stewart was the only one of the agency's five airports to remain open during the storm.

And in the days after the storm, Baer said, there were many incoming flights of C-17s bringing power restoration equipment bound for hard-hit neighborhoods in New York City and on Long Island.